A list of some basic Argentine slang. Naturally, there are many more words to learn, but this makes a good start.

Bajón (f)
1. a downer, something that sucks Es un bajón. Que bajón. That sucks, that´s too bad.

Bancar (v)
1. to tolerate. No me lo banco más. I can’t put up with it anymore.

Barbaridad (f)
1. something that is outrageous.

bárbaro/a
1. great, wonderful, cool. Estuvo bárbara la fiesta. It was a great party. Que bárbaro! Awesome, sweet!

bicho (m)
1. a bug/insect, critter, little animal

Bombilla (f)
1. metal straw with a filter on the end, used to drink mate.

Boliche (m)
1. Refers to a dance club/disco in Argentina. They don´t say disco, nor do they say club.

Boludez (f)
Refers to something that is stupid or ridiculous. El sistema de transporte es una boludez.
Can also refer to something that was really easy. El curso fue una boludez. Saqué un 10. The course was a joke, I got a 10.

Boludo/a (m/f)
Super super common, it is used in pretty much every sentence by Argentines. There are a few uses.
1. if you want to call someone a moron, a goof, an idiot, or a jerk, you call him a boludo. It is not that harsh, not like swearing at someone, but isn´t all that nice.
2. it is also used to say something similar to “hey man.” Here they say “che boludo.”
3. it is also used all the time when talking amongst friends. They like to throw it in most sentences, it´s sort of like saying “man” again, but not really. Used with girls or guys. See below for examples:
Pedro: Vamos al cine? Let´s go see a movie? Juan: Ni loco boludo, sale muy caro. No way man, it´s really expensive.
Pedro: Vas a la fiesta? Juan: No, estoy cansado, me quedo en casa. Pedro: Que? Boludo, es viernes, no se queda en casa.
In the first use, it is an insult. In the others, it is not, but is very colloquial. Don´t say boludo to your boss or your girlfriend´s parents, as an example.

Cana (f)
1. The police/the cops.

Capo (adj.)
1. cool, great – refering to a person. Tu amigo es un capo. Your friend is really great.

Cagada (f)
1. sucks, crap, a mess – Que cagada. That sucks. El proceso es una cagada. The process is a mess.

Chabón (m)
1. a guy, similar to ‘Pibe.’

Chamuyero (n)
1. a smooth talker, a sweet talker. Often used to describe guys that say whatever to try to pick up girls.

Chamuyar (v)
The action of being a chamuyo. Sweet talking, trying to pick someone up, scamming someone.

Chupamedias (f)
1. a suck up, brown noser (literally means someone who sucks socks).

Chupar (v)
1. to suck. Also used to talk about drinking alcohol. Vamos al bar a chupar cervezas. Let’s go to the bar for a beer.

Che (m)
1. man. If used amongst friends in this sense, it Is somewhat of a term of endearment (in a very light way). Chau che. Later man. Can also be used with people you don´t know, as a way of addressing them. Vamos che, dejame pasar. Come on man, let me in.
2. hey. Used to get someone´s attention. Che, por acá!. Hey, over here!

Cheto, Concheto (m)
1. snobby. Es un lugar muy cheto. Its a really snobby place.

Club (m)
1. Gentleman´s Club (nude women)
2. Where you join as a member to use the leisure facilities

Colectivo (m)
1. Refers to the city bus in Buenos Aires

Copado/a (adj.)
1. cool, good. Used especially for people, places, events. Tu hermano es muy copado. Your brother is really cool.

Gato (m)
1. a female prostitute, or one acting like a female prostitute. Like calling someone a whore in English.
2. a gay person.

Groso (adj.)
1. something or someone that is great, awesome. Voy a la playa! Que groso! I´m going to the beach! That´s great!!

Guita (f)
1. Money. No tengo gita. I don´t have any money.

Laburar (v.)
1. to work

Lunfardo (m)
1. refers to the street slang and the slang of people who danced tango in Buenos Aires in the earlier 1900s. Many words and expressions are still used today.

Mangos (m)
1. pesos. Me costó 120 mangos! It cost me 120 pesos!

Mate (m)
1. Refers to a special type of tea that the Aregentine´s like to drink.
2. Refers to the gourd in which the Yerba (mate tea) is put

Micro (m)
1. bus that goes out of the city, from one city or town to another

Mina (f)
1. refers to a girl or women (teens and up). It is slightly degrading, but not really. It’s very common to talk among guy friends that you were talking to a “mina”, or met some “minas.”

onda (m)
1. the literal meaning is a wave, like a sound wave. However, it is used to talk about a situation or person in a good way. Tu amigo tiene muy buena onda. Your friend has a great vibe/is really cool. It is not only used in Argentina, but is used a lot, so is important to know.

Pelotudo/a (m/f)
1. an idiot, moron, jerk, just like boludo. It is not used to say “man” or when talking to your friends, in the same way boludo is.

Pibe (m)
1. a kid, boy/girl, though more common to use for a boy

Porro (m)
1. a joint, weed

Porteño/a (m/f)
1. a person that is from the city of Buenos Aires
2. is also used as an adjective to describe something that is very typical of Buenos Aires. Ese bar es bien porteño. That bar is very typical of the bars in Buenos Aires.

Pucho (m)
1. cigarette

Quilombo (m)
1. a mess, a disaster, chaotic. El tránsito en Buenos Aires es un quilombo.

Remera (f)
1. t-shirt

Tipo (masc noun or adv. )
1. a guy conocí a un tipo. I met some guy.
2. around, approximately La fiesta empieza tipo 20h The party starts around 8.

Toque (m)
1. a touch, a little bit. Falta un toque de sal. It’s missing just a touch of salt.

Trucho/a (adj. or m/f noun)
1. fake/counterfeit items. Compré una remera trucha. I bought a counterfeit t-shirt. Esos son truchos. Those are fake.

If you are interested in buying an Argentine book about slang, your best option is “Che Boludo: A gringo’s guide to understanding the Argentines.” by James Bracken. It is a useful book, and is very current – all the expressions you find in the book are used kind often here. The book is slightly limited in that it does not provide many examples, so often you don’t understand how it may be used in speech. Also, it doesn’t indicate which are really common, and which ones you won’t hear very often. It can be purchased in the main bookstores in Buenos Aires.

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When a foreigner thinks of wine from Argentina, they will almost always associate it with Mendoza. The majority of exported wines are from Mendoza, and the Mendozan wines are so good that they are starting to win many international awards. To truly appreciate these wines, it is important to know WHY these wines are so good.

Although many factors contribute to the fantastic wines coming from Mendoza, there is one reason in particular that gives Mendoza a huge advantage: the lack of precipitation and their form of irrigation. Mendoza has desert-like conditions and receives very little precipitation throughout the year.

Why is this good thing? Most importantly, grape-growers can control the exact amount of moisture their vines are getting by using an irrigation system that transports water down from the nearby mountains. The vines receive the correct amount of moisture at the exact time they should be receiving it. This means grape growers never have to worry about bloated, flavorless grapes caused from too much rain. They can ensure the grapes receive the correct amount of moisture to grow, but not so much they lose their flavor.

A lack of precipitation could be a very big problem grape grows, but Mendoza has the luxury of an ingenious irrigation system that was original developed by the aboriginals. The water that is used to irrigate the grapes comes from the mountains, and is therefore very pure and full of nutritional vitamins, contributing to healthy vines.

The dry conditions also mean there are very few molds or pests that are a threat to the grapes grown in Mendoza, meaning grape growers rarely have to spray their vines.

Mendozan grape growing conditions are truly ideal. The result is excellent quality grapes, and everyone knows that good wine can only be made from good grapes. In Buenos Aires, and any major city of Argentina, there is a huge selection of Mendozan wines. It is recommended you take full advantage of that, and try as many as possible!

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CompuMap

CompuMap is by far your best option for learning the bus (colectivos) system to get around Buenos Aires. It is also your best option for a map. Here is a list of things you can do with CompuMap:

- finding a direction
- which colectivo to take to get somewhere
- the entire route a colectivo takes
- neighbourhoods
- references/landmarks (such as hospitals. There aren´t too many references to start out, but you can add your own).
- getting a postal code

I have put together a quick list of the hotkeys you can use to navigate around CompuMap. It is important to know these so you can take full advantage of the features available on CompuMap. You can use the mouse for most of these, but the hotkeys are much quicker. There is a help section in the CompuMap program, but it is all in Spanish.

Hotkeys
Let click – zoom in
Right click – zoom out
Arrows – move the screen
- move the screen a small amount
A Shows the street number (under the mouse pointer)
O shows all buses that go within a 700 meters (under the mouse pointer)
L neighborhood (under the mouse pointer)
C street search
D direction search
O bus search
L searching for which bus will get you from two specified points
R References – this is how you can things such as hospitals, subway stops, etc.
V Review the searches you have done
I Print
End Exit CompuMap
B Find a postal code
T Indicate all searches made in red
O Show the names of all streets

Not sure where to get CompuMap? You can find some options here: Portable CompuMap Full v4.0.9.2 It is just a small .exe program and highly recommended!

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If you were to mention in North America that you were going to Argentina, most people would ask “Is it safe?”  Or they will talk about how they heard people are kidnapped, that there is a lot of crime and that it’s a dangerous place to visit.   Is Buenos Aires dangerous?   This is a difficult question without a concrete answer.

In general, yes, there is a certain degree of danger here.  Being the capital of Argentina, and a city of 13 million people, it is the most dangerous city in Argentina.  I must admit that personally, I have never felt threatened in Buenos Aires.  I walk around by myself at whatever time of the day or night, and have never had anything happen or almost happen to me.  I have never even seen any crime as it was happening.  In general, Buenos Aires is quite safe, much more so than some of the other major cities in South America, such as Rio de Janeiro, Lima, Quito, or Bogota.  However, there is certainly a lot crime in this city, and one must be careful, smart, and lucky to live or vacation here without ever having any problems.

If you watch the news, every day you will hear of a robbery or a murder.  This is not uncommon, but this is the same in any huge city throughout the world.  However, crime is currently on the increase in Argentina, as the economic situation is deteriorating, and especially because of the high inflation, there is more and more poverty every day.  Some of the most common crimes you need to watch out for are as follows:

Petty crimes – this mostly includes robbery when you’re not paying attention.  The thieves here are VERY good.  Be extremely careful when you are on the crowded subways, they can easily take something out of your purse or bag without you noticing.  Something that has happened quite a lot to people is that they have had their purses stolen while in a restaurant.  They hang it on their chair, or think they are keeping an eye on it, and when they are ready to leave, all of a sudden it is no longer there.  Make sure this does not happen to you!

Laptop robbery – unfortunately, laptop robbery is starting to become somewhat common.  Electronics are worth a fortune, so you can imagine how much they can sell your fancy laptop for.  They are usually stolen from people as they are leaving coffee shops that have WiFi, and is often done as a team.  One person will have a coffee inside, scope out someone who is leaving with a nice laptop, call their friend outside and tell them who to go after.   They essentially mug you, forcing you to give them your laptop.  This does not mean you can never go to a cyber cafe, but be aware.  It is best to go to a somewhat busy cafe in a busy area, where this is less likely to happen.

Mugging – this is somewhat common.  A thief goes after you on the street, and asks for your money.  They usually have a knife, sometimes a gun.  Give them whatever they ask for, and they usually leave you alone.

ATM robberies – also somewhat common.  They wait for someone to go to an ATM, withdraw a lot of money, and will then mug them as they are leaving.   You will notice that at the ATMs here, you have to wait outside the doors if the machines are in use.  You don´t enter the ATM room and make a line inside, as that is a security risk for those withdrawing money.  In respect to them, you line-up outside the doors until they leave.

Kidnappings – these were quite common closer to the crisis in 2001, specifically tourists.  There are still a fair amount of kidnappings that take place; however, it is more commonly the teenagers of rich Argentine parents that are the victims.

These are the most common crimes that you will hear about, or that are most likely to happen to you.  As I mention above, it is important to be careful and smart to stay safe in Buenos Aires.

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